The energy of Camden

It is now been close to a week since I landed in Heathrow Airport. What an amazing week it has been indeed! Father Nicholas, the rector at St. Pancras was there to meet me and help me get back to the Vicarage with all of my luggage. We took the express back to Paddington Station, and then a taxi (I have now ridden in a famous London taxi!) to Camden Square where the Vicarage is. I am still getting used to cars driving on the opposite side of the road. Many people told me that you have to make sure that you look in BOTH directions before crossing the road, because London traffic won't stop for you. In the United States, we automatically look left before crossing the road (even though we should always look BOTH directions). In London, you need to make sure that you look RIGHT as well, otherwise you could be in trouble with another vehicle.

I have also met my housemates for the year: Julian, Liz, and Owen. Julian and Liz are recently married and are paying rent to the perish at a reduced rate. Julian thus serves as the house coordinator or "house president". He makes sure that we have all the community things we need and that everything in the house goes smoothly. Both Julian and Liz are extremely musical which is very exciting! Julian plays jazz guitar and violin (I want to hear him play some jazz things on his violin sometime soon!) He also has a company that composes and records jingles for various companies in London. Liz is a trained opera singer and has just taken a job as program manager with one of the halls in central London (hopefully this will mean some good deals on tickets!) Owen, the other pastoral assistant, is from Wales. He is a wonderful fellow with a great sense of humor. He was also in a choir at his university which just got done with a tour. It has been great to compare musical interests with everyone- we certainly have a musical house!

Camden is the most diverse place I have ever been in. The crazy thing about the character of the town that I have never seen in the U.S. before is the way that the poor and the rich literally live side by side. On the street that our Vicarage is on, you have one side that is filled with million pound villas and on the other side is lower income housing! The different people that you will see walking down the side walk is staggering. You will first see maybe a nicely dressed buisness man, then a trendy european youth, then a muslim cleric, then a older resident who has been living in London for 70 years, and everyone in between! The church services reflect this diversity as well. For example, there was a whole group of newly arrived immigrants from Equador that came to a service on Sunday. Most of them didn't speak a word of English, but the welcoming nature was incredible.

As I start this "first" week of offical work, I will be meeting a lot of people and learning a lot of new things. I am absolutley certain that this place will most strikingly turn my world upside down.. hopefully for the better. Pray for me as I enter into this new world and stay tuned for further updates!